Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit stepped down after nearly five years at the banking giant’s helm. Based on the stock’s performance during Pandit’s tenure, he’s not likely to be missed by shareholders.

Since Dec. 11, 2007, the day Pandit was publicly named Citigroup’s CEO, through Monday’s closing price, the stock fell 89%. He may have inherited many of the problems that triggered the price tumble–the stock had already fallen 38% in the preceding six months — but he’s the person where the buck stops for shareholders.

We’ve noted the change in tone toward Greece, most visibly this week when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Aegeans to give them a little pep talk. When we caught up with SocGen’s Dylan Grice this week, he said simply that the Europeans have realized something: the costs of cutting Greece loose are higher than previously thought.

This is changing the dynamics of the potential “Grexit,” (there, we said it). Citi’s team was out with a note today in which they cut the odds of Greece getting the (Teutonic) boot to 60% from 90%, and pushed back the time-frame for such an event to the first half of 2014, if it happens at all.

“Politicians probably fear its negative effects on upcoming elections (in Germany) and a diminished economic resilience in the rest of Europe to a shock like Grexit,” they wrote. “The recent more cooperative Greek stance, together with some timid improvements in the deficit data, may also have helped.”

Citigroup investors don’t need the Federal Reserve to tell them when it is safe to be bullish.

The bank passed the Fed’s “stress test,” but its plan to return capital to shareholders was rejected after the Fed determined it would lower the minimum capital ratio below a 5% threshold. That shouldn’t change the stock’s outlook, however, as it already cleared a number of technical hurdles to confirm it has been riding a long-term uptrend.

First, the 200-day simple moving average or SMA, seen by many as a dividing line between bull and bear markets, has held firm as support the last few weeks. The stock tested the line a number of times on an intraday basis since Feb. 22, but couldn’t close below it.

In addition, a bullish “golden cross’ was produced Tuesday when the 50-day SMA crossed above the 200-day SMA. Many chart watchers believe this marks the spot where a shorter-term bounce transitions to a longer-term uptrend.

Also Tuesday, the stock had broken through the top of the range it had been consolidating in over the past month, defined by support at the February lows around $31.10 and resistance at the October 2011 highs around $34.40. Once consolidation ranges are cleared, they tend to provide strong support during downside tests.

But more importantly, Tuesday’s rally past the October highs confirmed a major “double bottom” reversal pattern, defined by the Oct. 4 low of $21.40 and the Nov. 23 low of $23.30. That the second bottom was above the first increases the pattern’s effectiveness, since it shows bears relinquished control after trying, but failing to make further progress.

Private markets lost some of their share of US stock trades in the first half of this month, according to new data, and a reverse stock split by Citigroup may have been the reason.

The decline is new for so-called dark pools and other off-exchange trading venues, whose presence in US markets has grown relentlessly. It’s also the latest twist on the Citigroup 1-for-10 reverse stock split, which shaved a sizable proportion off trading volume at all major US trading venues.

Famous frightener Meredith Whitney has a Bloomberg piece this morning, ”as told to” Diane Brady, saying she totally saw Bear Stearns was about to collapse but decided not to say anything about it, for the good of humanity:

From October up to the collapse of Bear Stearns in March, my calls were having an unprecedented influence. If I made a call, it moved the market. I was very aware of the influence I had, and it was daunting. I was very careful with it.

…

I didn’t want to be responsible for accelerating a wave of panic. I was just too scared. I remember not being able to sleep on Wednesday night. You have to be so careful about what you say if you’ve got the microphone. I wrote a note—but I sat on it.

…

I don’t regret holding back; I was silent on Lehman for the same reasons. Still, I’m accused of being a one-hit wonder.

Ahh, now it’s clear why she’s writing this note. She’s been under considerable fire — including by writers at Bloomberg — for her call last year that a wave of muni defaults were coming, and people have started to chip away at the rep she gained when she predicted trouble for Citigroup. Lots of other people saw that coming, these critics say, and she hasn’t had many other correct calls. This is Ms. Whitney’s response to those critics.

I’ve had a lot of right calls, but the timing with Citi was unusual. I never assume the consensus is right. I do my research: I know when I’m right.

As the Dow slipped into the red in the closing minutes of today’s market action, MarketBeat’s eye was drawn to another number: the blockbuster trading volume in New York Stock Exchange composite action, with 7.5 billion shares changing hands, according to the WSJ Market Data Group. That makes it the best day since May 25, and more than double yesterday’s volume.

The reason, in a word: Citigroup.

Thanks to the Treasury’s cashing out of its crisis-era purchases, the already heavily-traded stock was the center of an even larger than usual flurry of activity. According to the Market Data Group, trading volume in Citigroup hit 3.3 billion shares, the largest daily volume this year. As a part of the broader market, it was an absolute juggernaut, accounting for nearly half (43.4%) of today’s total NYSE composite volume (versus an average of 11.8% over the past year).

Our friends at Birinyi Associates have helpfully stripped out the impact of C activity today, and found that without C the volume was the second-lowest this month. In other words: strip out C, and it was another yawner of a day on trading volumes.

The surprise (and profitable) U.S. government exit from Citigroup has not sparked the kind of rally in financial stocks that some might have expected, underscoring how this sector remains largely hated by investors.

With the yoke of the government removed from one more financial player, the KBW Bank Index is up marginally while major market measures are up about 0.5% to the upside. Absent Citi’s 3% gain, the index would be performing even worse.

Among big banks, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, American Express and U.S. Bancorp are all flat to down. Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are all in positive territory.

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MarketBeat looks under the hood of Wall Street each day, finding market-moving news, analyzing trends and highlighting noteworthy commentary from the best blogs and research. MarketBeat is updated frequently throughout the day, helping investors stay on top of what’s happening in the markets. Lead writers Paul Vigna and Steven Russolillo spearhead the MarketBeat team, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Have a comment? Write to paul.vigna@wsj.com or steven.russolillo@wsj.com.